Indianapolis LGBT Film Festival 2019

The Indianapolis LGBT Film Festival proudly returns for our 19th year, bringing the world's finest in LGBTQ content to the Hoosier state.

Each year our goal is to create a space where we can revel in our own stories—and discover the commonalities within our own community. We encourage you to explore and to discover stories that might not, at first, seem to be about your own experience. Take a chance on a movie that doesn’t match your letter in the LGBTQ alphabet soup, and you'll find that we're all of the same stock. Here’s something else to think about: Did you know that our beneficiary, Indiana Youth Group, is the longest-running LGBTQ youth organization in the entire country?

Festival Steering Commi ee

Pam Powell

Annie Zoll

Keishana White

Kat Hicks

Michael Barclay

Mickey Rogers

Ted Letherer

Catherine Crouch

For more than 30 years IYG has provided safe spaces and vital support for thousands of LGBTQ youth in Indiana. To learn more, visit IndianaYouthGroup.org.

same stock. Youth Group, is the longest-running LGBTQ youth organization in the entire country? of LGBTQ youth in Indiana. To learn more, visit IndianaYouthGroup.org. filmmakers, the Indianapolis Men’s Chorus, the Bag Ladies, Newfields, and all our

On behalf of everyone involved, from our hardworking steering committee to the filmmakers, the Indianapolis Men’s Chorus, the Bag Ladies, Newfields, and all our wonderful sponsors, we want to sincerely thank you for coming to the Indianapolis LGBT Film Festival. Lights. Camera. Action!

Royce Cole Jr. Lymari Quintana

Director Matthew Mutchmore

Program Editors

Courtney Corcoran

Jami Stall Website Tracy Robbins Smith

facebook.com/IndianapolisLGBTFilmFestival twitter.com/indylgbtflmfest instagram.com/indylgbtfilmfest

Ma Mutchmore Director

Indianapolis LGBT Film Festival INDIANAYOUTHGROUP.ORG

JURIED PRIZES

Chief Development and Marketing O icer at WFYI Public Media, overseeing member relations, grant development, and underwriting programs

These five films are our nominees for the 2019 Best of Festival Awards.

The winners are selected by our panel of judges and announced on Premiere Night.

Ess McKee

Artist, Illustrator, and Creator of Things, Teacher at Regeneration Indy, and Designer/Proprietor of Inaz Dezign LLC

Bryn Jackson

Artist,

David Slade

Mark Harper

Film Studies Professor at Heartland Community College in Normal, Illinois, and a former Director of the Indianapolis LGBT Film Festival

Paula Katz

Studio Manager to artist Samuel Levi Jones, and Independent Curator and Arts Consultant

Assistant Curator of Audience Engagement and Performance at Newfields

LITTLE WALTER WHISPERS

PRISONER OF SOCIETY

RAINBOW MOTHERS

ISABELLA

KIKO’S SAINTS

PREMIERE NIGHT

Sponsored By

In the wake of the 2016 election, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus responded with a bus tour through Southern red states. Their mission: Carry a message of visibility, acceptance, hope, and the power of music to unify rather than divide.

Joined by the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, the SFGMC toured areas of the southern United States that have the most discriminatory anti-LGBTQ+ laws, including Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. Director David Charles Rodrigues combines modern-day truths with historical perspective to chronicle this intense, moving, and inspirational journey.

As the diverse group treks through the South, the film focuses on individual stories with universal implications. Many chorus members return to cities, towns, and states that they fled decades before, uncovering surprising changes and heartbreaking new realities. By going directly to areas where they are least likely to be accepted, the chorus members use one-to-one human connections and the healing power of music to foster change. Fueled by powerful live performances and colorful characters, this dynamic documentary captures the heart and soul of a contemporary civil rights movement.

Screening preceded by a live performance by the INDIANAPOLIS MEN’S CHORUS

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE SEQUINS REQUIRED

PREVIEW SCREENING

One night in 1981, a ballsy group of men with big hearts and even bigger bou ants dressed in drag and boarded a bus. Performing at stops throughout Indianapolis, they raised money for people dying from the disease “God gave to the homosexuals.”

If that were the case, then a more loving divine being blessed the gay community with the Indianapolis Bag Ladies. Courageous and compassionate, these men organized to help, hug, and house droves of dying gay men who no one else would. Their humanity and hilarity proved far more powerful than public policies and a government that initially turned its back on the national AIDS crisis in the early ’80s. One of the founders Coby Palmer (aka Blossom, Queen Mother of the Bag Ladies) takes us back to what was “a deadly new disease singling out gay men.” He and his fellow Bag Ladies share their story for continued awareness and a tribute to all the friends they buried during those darkest days.

A er nearly four decades of Bag Lady Bus Tours and charitable events, they and many more ladies (and some women) have brought in more than $3 million to help those living with and a ected by HIV/AIDS. They hope, of course, for a cure. But even then, they still want all of the e ort, all of the pain, and especially all of the love that has occurred over the past 35 to 40 years to be remembered. “Because if you forget it, you then lose what our community is,” says Tom Sizemore.

SHORTS PROGRAM

LESBIAN SHORTS

Lesbian youths are in the spotlight in these magical short films, showcasing journeys with love interests, classmates, families, friends, and coming out.

In Misdirection, a street magician teaches Camila to channel her energy into a new hobby and new possibilities. Teddy Mate introduces a magical world where children bond with teddy bears that eventually transform into their perfect human life partners. Conservative Robyn is captivated by her outspoken, rebellious classmate Isabella. Despite their attraction, two women struggle to make the first move in Radial Point. In Halayla, Tom discovers a di erent side of her girlfriend and their relationship. Ripley’s diverse, wacky friends support her no matter what in Just Call Me Ripley.

MISDIRECTION

Director: Carly Usdin, USA, 13 Minutes

TEDDY MATE

Director: Romme Villa, Australia, 15 Minutes

ISABELLA

Director: Rohan Reddy, UK, 12 Minutes

RADIAL POINT

Director: Sa ron Ardern-Sodje, USA, 2 Minutes

HALAYLA

Director: Emily Shir Segal, Israel, 15 Minutes, Subtitled

JUST CALL ME RIPLEY

Director: Shannon Noll, USA, 44 Minutes

Check your blues at the door and get ready to smile!

This collection of short films is funny, flirty, surprising, and maybe even touching, and includes a dance break!

SHORTS PROGRAM

Corey’s bad day improves in Sweater. Darren’s insecurities keep him from proposing to his boyfriend in Engaged. In Hoosier, a young man discovers a deeper layer to his queer identity. The married Michaels have dinner with straights and attend a naked party in Michael and Michael are Gay. A witch uses a little magic to remind a young man what he’s really looking for in The Curse. Creative schemes get a hunky repairman to keep returning in The Handyman. Taylor’s preparations for his date backfire in Next Level Shit. An awkward dinner becomes even more uncomfortable in Stepdaddy.

SWEATER

Director: Nick Borenstein, USA, 5 Minutes

ENGAGED

Director: David Scala, USA, 17 Minutes

HOOSIER

Director: Aaron Cook, USA, 15 Minutes

MICHAEL AND MICHAEL ARE GAY

Directors: Ian Alda & Annika Kurnick, USA, 21 Minutes

THE CURSE

Director: Dave Berenato, USA, 8 Minutes

THE HANDYMAN

Director: JC Calciano, USA, 9 Minutes

NEXT LEVEL SHIT

Director: Gary Ja e, USA, 12 Minutes

STEPDADDY

Director: Lisa Steen, USA, 8 Minutes

QUEERING THE SCRIPT

Queerness on television has moved from subtext, in series such as Xena: Warrior Princess, to all-out multiseason relationships between women, as seen on Bu y the Vampire Slayer, Lost Girl, and Carmilla. But things still aren’t perfect. In 2016 a record number of queer women died on fictional shows, which broke the hearts of queer fans and launched a successful fight for better, more diverse LGTBQ+ representation.

Engrossing interviews with figureheads from Autostraddle and GLAAD Media contextualize the history of queer women in popular media, while Pose actress Angelica Ross, The L Word creator Ilene Chaiken, and Xena: Warrior Princess herself, Lucy Lawless, share their experiences with fans and how they’ve helped to reshape narratives to be queer inclusive. Queering the Script takes a fun and forthright look at the importance of queer representation in mass media and the undeniable influence of LGBTQ+ fandoms on the shows we watch.

Queer nerd alert! Queering the Script ventures into the cosplay-wearing , fanfic-writing underbelly of queer fandoms, exploring their influence on the slow but steady rise of LGBTQ+ characters in the media, and the extraordinary impact of activism on its many diverse fans.

NARRATIVE FEATURE

Peter’s latest love interest is Jack, a charming, successful businessman...with a devoted wife and two young children.

Peter, a serial dater of unavailable men, is under pressure from his formidably gru father to get his life in order and settle down. Enter Jack, with a wife and kids in the suburbs. When sparks fly, Pete must ask himself if he can handle yet another relationship with a married man, while Jack will have to decide if he’s ready to leave his wife.

Gossip, deception, heartbreak, and coincidence play their part, and eventually Peter realizes that something needs to change if he’s going to maintain any self-respect. His emotional journey isn’t over as he faces up to the challenges of finding—and keeping—love in his life.

Featuring strong chemistry between the leads, director Doug Spearman (Hot Guys with Guns) creates authentic characters in this highly engaging, obstacle-filled romance.

Darryl Stephens (Noah’s Arc) stars in this funny, bittersweet romance that grapples with the hang-ups and pressures gay men contend with when it comes to identity and love.

SHORTS PROGRAM

Love and laughs, awkward family moments, surprising reunions, bad breakups, ingenius pets, and tender rememberances all converge in this year’s collection of queer women’s shorts.

Rainbow Mothers documents a Chinese couple’s struggles with marriage and fertility in their country. Girls Weekend centers on an awkward reunion between an estranged lesbian and her not-so-accepting family. Teresa, now a nun, never got over the woman who broke her heart years before in Say Grace. In Enclosure, a quiet girl questions the decisions made for her by her family. Gloria prepares a feast of the senses for the rapidly ailing Eva in Seeing Glory. A er a lousy breakup, a dog named Butch must do his best to reunite his owners, even if it means a trip to the vet.

RAINBOW MOTHERS

Director: Elle Luan, USA/China, 30 Minutes

GIRLS WEEKEND

Director: Kyra Sedgwick, USA, 11 Minutes

SAY GRACE

Director: Phil Hawkins, USA, 17 Minutes

ENCLOSURE

Director: Tingting Li, USA, 11 Minutes

SEEING GLORY

Director: Dave Hamilton, USA, 15 Minutes

BUTCH

Director: Harry Lloyd, Austrailia, 11 Minutes

When Mark Patton landed the lead in the hotly anticipated sequel to the blockbuster film A Nightmare on Elm Street, it was a dream come true, putting him on track to become a Hollywood star. But instead, Patton found himself facing a stark reality: He was a young, closeted, gay man starring in a subversively queer film that was maligned by fans, failed at the box o ice, and destroyed his career. He retreated from show business and le the country, unaware of the growing reappraisal of Freddy’s Revenge and the cult status it achieved in the years following its dismissal.

Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street brings Patton out of hiding a er 30 years, finally ready to embrace the film and confront his own demons by telling his story. The documentary also examines how attitudes toward the controversial sequel have changed, along with the social mores of both Hollywood and society. Interviews with celebrities, film historians, drag icon Peaches Christ, and the original cast and crew—including Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund—round out this deep dive into a truly unique ’80s horror film.

Preceded

When A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge was released in 1985, fans thirsting for more Freddy Krueger mayhem weren’t prepared for what’s been called “the gayest horror movie ever made.”

Directors: Roman Chimienti & Tyler Jensen, USA, 99 Minutes

by: THE SUMMER HOUSE Director: Luke Willis, USA, 14 Minutes

Nestled in the heart of downtown Indianapolis, The Alexander features outstanding business amenities, 157 stunning guest rooms, 52 extended stay suites, and an emphasis on art and design.

SHORTS PROGRAM

GAY SHORTS

From cheap thrills to unexpected encounters, experience desire in its most tender, tantalizing, comedic, startling, and fascinating forms.

A cruising adventure comes to its climax in Stalls. In Enter, M. arrives by chance where an orgy is taking place. Two young men share di erent points of view of the same encounter in The Last Romantics. In Lukewarm, John and Eric put the "lust" back in "lackluster." In Touchscreen, a lonely man is challenged to step out from behind his computer and shatter his inhibitions. Kevin seems to be willing to do whatever it takes for the perfect photo in Content. Encountering a gay couple on the beach becomes a life-changing experience for a shy, Japanese illustrator in Kiko’s Saints.

STALLS

Director: João Dall'Stella, USA, 4 Minutes

ENTER

Directors: Manuel Billi & Benjamin Bodi, France, 19 Minutes, Subtitled

THE LAST ROMANTICS

Director: João Cândido Zacharias, Brazil, 12 Minutes, Subtitled

LUKEWARM

Director: Mitch Yapko, USA, 7 Minutes

TOUCHSCREEN

Director: Arthur Halpern, USA, 15 Minutes

CONTENT

Director: Chris Coats, USA, 12 Minutes

KIKO’S SAINTS

Director: Manuel Marmier, France, 25 Minutes, Subtitled

NARRATIVE FEATURE

BRIEF STORY PLANET FROM THE GREEN

NOON

In Buenos Aires, three childhood friends find themselves in a rut. Feisty trans performer Tania is disillusioned with her profession, club kid Pedro can only connect via dancing, and depressed waitress Daniela has given up on finding love. Their lives are upended when Tania’s grandmother dies, revealing a secret: In her final years, she lived with an extraterrestrial companion, and it is now Tania’s legacy to return the creature to its home.

Armed with Abuela’s hand-drawn map, the three friends set out through the stunning countryside of Argentina on a journey that will test their faith in themselves and one another. When obstacles and hostile locals stand in their way, the friends discover hidden reserves of strength to see their mission through. Told in a blend of magic and sobering realism, this poetic and o en moving film fable—which won the Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival—is a meditation on selfhood, friendship, and what it means to be “other.”

In this tender, epic journey, young trans woman Tania is tasked with caring for her recently deceased grandmother’s closest companion—an alien, whom she and her comrades must safely return to its extraterrestrial origins.

Director: Santiago Loza, Argentina/Germany/Spain, 74 Minutes—Spanish with English Subtitles

Preceded by: FLOTANDO Director: Frankie De Leonardis, Spain, 8 Minutes

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

The wild work of visionary designer Jean Paul Gaultier is instantly recognizable, coming from one of the most imaginative and subversive couturiers in all of fashion. Here the playful genius o ers an all-access pass into the intense two-year making of his lavish, autobiographical cabaret in this vibrant homage to the artist’s life and work. As Gaultier readies his ambitious career-spanning revue, he looks back on his upbringing, his inspirations, and his creations—with such stars as Madonna, Catherine Deneuve, Marion Cotillard, and his longtime muse Rossy de Palma joining him along the way.

Eye-popping costumes, extravagant set design, high energy choreography, and original music come together to form an otherworldly spectacle that could only spring from the mind of Gaultier. Filmmaker Yann L’Hénoret follows the show from its infancy to opening night, capturing some moving, vulnerable moments along the way, such as Gaultier discussing the death of his longtime partner from HIV. You’re cordially invited to this colorful look into the daring and provocative world of a true icon.

Preceded by: SHE SAID, SHE SAID Director: Stuart Blumberg, USA, 8 Minutes

Any designer can stage a runway show, but possibly only Jean Paul Gaultier could pull o a “Fashion Freak Show” at the Folies Bergère, combining fashion with film, dance, theater, and unapologetic, over-the-top flair.

SHORTS PROGRAM

QUEER SHORTS

This vibrant, eclectic collection of short films explores sexual and gender identities, and how family and societal expectations can a ect how we see ourselves and the world around us.

The residents of The Carrington House Hotel yearn for the return of Cousin John. Miss Man introduces Manob, struggling to stand up for who he truly is. Prisoner of Society documents a transgender woman who has been locked away. Carey decides if he’ll let his father meet his date in The One You Never Forget. In A Brief History of the Unicorn, a young girl demands that her confirmation sponsor be her transgender aunt. The fragile world Walter has created is challenged in Little Walter Whispers. Eleven-year-old Lolo tries to convince his first love to go public with their relationship.

COUSIN JOHN—THE ARRIVAL

Director: Tom CJ Brown, USA, 5 Minutes

MISS MAN

Director: Tathagata Ghosh, India, 25 Minutes, Subtitled

PRISONER OF SOCIETY

Director: Rati Tsiteladze, Georgia, 15 Minutes

THE ONE YOU NEVER FORGET

Director: Morgan Jon Fox, USA, 9 Minutes

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE UNICORN

Director: Mina Sewell Mancuso, Canada, 15 Minutes

LITTLE WALTER WHISPERS

Director: William Moran, USA, 14 Minutes

LOLO

Directors: Leandro Goddinho, Paulo Menezes, Germany, 14 Minutes, Subtitled

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